Return to the Labyrinth
by Taylor Hayes
Summary: Jareth hasn't been the same since Sarah. But what will bring her back? Oneshot. Warning: what happens to Sarah is brutal. But it was what made sense, to me, to take her back.


RETURN TO THE LABYRINTH

a/n I've always been obsessed with this movie. As in, first time I saw it I watched it eight times in one night. *snort* I was eight and it was awesome. I decided the best way to get Sarah back to the Labyrinth would be to break her. I'm expecting some hate mail for this, but it felt like it had to happen.

The Goblin King sat stiffly on his throne. In years past, he would have lounged over the arms of the throne, wearing casual clothes, and tapping his familiar riding crop against his leg. Now, he looked like an effigy. His face was stiff, masking his anger and despair. And his clothes were formal and entirely black. No glitter sprinkled the air, and the smell of spiced peaches was long gone.

It had been six years since a runner had beaten the Labyrinth. But she had been no ordinary runner. She had imagination and fire and was determined to play the game and win back her brother from the Goblin King. Despite the rules it governed itself by, the Labyrinth had come to love her. Just as Jareth had.

He was the Goblin King! He could swoop down on wings of white whispers and seduce any human girl he pleased. With his power and handsome features, he could woo any fae woman as he chose. But the only one woman he had ever truly wanted was a young girl, who had not been swayed by his promises. His entire black, cold heart belonged to her. And she would not be cowed, coerced or caught by him. In the end, Sarah Williams had taken her baby brother Toby and gone on with her human life.

She still loved stories, but she no longer became lost in fantasy. She had lived a fairy tale and had no wish to do so again.

He had watched her for five years, desperately hoping she would come to realize that she loved him, as he loved her. His minions had traveled beyond the Goblin City and the Labyrinth, into the mortal world, to keep her safe. There were weeks on end in which he would follow her, hiding behind his second form: a moon owl.

But the Labyrinth would not allow her King to stay away forever. She was a jealous mistress, and Jareth was meant to lead the game for other runners who wished children away to the goblins.

And while he wasted away the hours and days between the game with pining after her, Sarah had gone on with her life. She had worked hard in school, made friends, went on dates, loved her family. Her first year in college had come and gone and she was flourishing, while Jareth wasted away in wishing.

Finally, he had known he could no longer hope that she would be overcome with passion for him. He had to let her go.

He returned to his kingdom, called off his spies and protectors, and devoted himself entirely to running the land of the goblins, and bettering the game. And in that year, though he had returned and refocused his priorities, the goblins saw the the change in him. He had always been harsh and quick to anger, but now he was cold and hard. Earlier mirth was entirely gone, and he had not let a note of song slip his lips since he had come back. He was the Goblin King again, but he might as well have been made of stone.

One day, as he sat, stiff and unnaturally still in the receiving hall, he heard the words that started the game.

"_I wish the goblins would come and take you away, right now._"

He closed his eyes and opened them again when his feet touched the ground. Now standing at the outside edge of the Labyrinth, he searched the area for the runner. The words had come from a female throat. His eyes flicked over a heap in the dirt, then returned. Taking a step forward, he froze.

The girl was curled up in a ball and had her face pressed into the soil. Unusually long, dark hair fell around her in a tangled mess. Awkwardly thin legs were sheathed in worn blue jeans, and the tee shirt she wore bared her scarred arms. They were covered in white lines. The girl was a "cutter".

Jareth knew the phrase from his time watching the world around Sarah, but he had never had one come to his kingdom to run the Labyrinth.

He didn't know how to proceed. She must know something was wrong and that she was not in her world. The difference was something runners felt done to their bones. The very air was different in his lands. But she remained, curled into herself like a wounded animal.

His feet moved before he consciously chose to walk, and he found himself kneeling beside her. A gloved hand reached out and brushed aside her hair, and he found himself staring into a pair of familiar emerald eyes.

Sarah!

_Sarah._

For a moment, all of his pain and anger and confusion disappeared, replaced by a wave of pure joy. Then he froze.

The scars on her arms. Her tangled hair. A pale face with not a hint of make up. And the look in her eyes, a look that said she had lost herself, made everything inside him vanish.

Without a thought, he reached out and pulled her gently into his arms. "Sarah," he whispered her name. She flinched slightly, trying to draw away, but without any true strength or will. "Sarah, why are you here?"

She shook her head violently, then let out a quiet sob. "There was nowhere else. Nowhere. Please, let me stay!"

He brushed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Tell me, Sarah. What happened? Why are you here?"

A shudder raced through the too-light body in his arms, and she began to speak. Her voice was quiet and broken, and the tears flowed in a steady stream down her cheeks.

She had made a mistake. A month ago, she had allowed her college roommate to convince her to go to a party. Sarah had never enjoyed parties, preferring to study or read. But Mandy had cajoled so long that Sarah had finally agreed.

She didn't drink, but when someone handed her a bottled water, she hadn't thought twice. She never checked to see if the seal was open. She drank about half of it before she realized it tasted wrong. Through her drugged haze, Sarah understood what would happen to her if she didn't get out of there right then.

On stumbling feet, she had made it halfway down the block before they caught up with her.

He watched her shake and heard the way her lungs gasped for air as she spoke of the scattered memories of their hands on her, the pain, and the smell of vomit as her body reacted to the violence. At some point, she had passed out. When Sarah woke up, she was lying in an alley, half-naked. Somehow, she had made it to the hospital, where her fears were confirmed: she had been brutally gang raped.

As soon as the doctor had left the room, she pulled on the scrubs they had left for her. Then she ran. Ran back to the dorm and showered, scrubbing all her skin until she bled. She holed up in her room for three weeks, and then one day could take it no more. Piling all her possessions carelessly into her car, she drove home.

When she reached her family's house, and sat in the driveway, waiting for them to return home from work and school, she knew she couldn't tell them. _She couldn't_. So Sarah had lied. Had told them she had a break from classes.

She tried to forget. Tried to move on. She started cutting herself, hoping it would help. It only brought short moments of relief. She couldn't forget, and she couldn't heal herself. She was too badly broken.

Looking in the mirror, willing herself to slit her wrists the right way, the way that would cause all her blood to drip out and end it all, she had seen the book.

That old friend. The worn, red leather cover and the swirling inscription. _The Labyrinth_. And she had simply wished. Wished herself away, wished herself here.

The Goblin King stood, stiff as rock, and tried to control the viciousness and rage that boiled through his veins, setting him aflame with the need for revenge. These men who had hurt her, _hurt his Sarah_, deserved the cruelest death he could imagine. He hated them with more force than he had ever hated anyone in his long existence. The need for vengeance screamed that he must go into the mortal world and find these animals and rip them apart with his bare hands.

Then he felt his beloved freeze in his arms. Looking down, pushing his fury behind a tight mask, his eyes met hers. And the dull despair in those glorious emeralds scared him.

She closed her eyes and spoke, slowly, clearly, painfully. "I'm sorry. I'm dirty and broken and I'm sorry that I came when you don't want me here. I'm sorry to make you listen to all of this. I'll go now."

He was shocked, and instinctively tightened his arms around her until she gasped. "Precious Sarah, if I found these men who harmed you, I would enjoy tormenting them for years. Easy death is more than they could ever deserve. Pity." Then he leaned in and softly kissed her forehead. "And I do want you here. I never want you to leave. I want you beside me always, telling me when I am being a pompous idiot, or yelling at me while your eyes blaze, or mocking me with those pink lips.

"What those predators did to you is not your fault, Sarah. They are the ones who are dirty and broken. You have been hurt and lost part of who you were, but you are still the strong, lovely, innocent girl I have always loved."

Her eyes were wide, and she appeared to have stopped breathing. Finally, she gasped out, "Then I can stay?"

A sad, loving smile touched his lips. "Forever and ever, Sarah Williams, if that is your wish. You will stay. You are safe here. You will smile and laugh. And we will find you, all of you, again. Together."

"Thank you, Jareth."

And as they disappeared, flying off to the castle, they left behind them the smell of spiced peaches and a shower of glitter.

fin.


End file.
